Jeff Paterson: 10 Things I'd like to see from the Canucks next season

The best thing about the 2016-17 Vancouver Canucks season is that it comes to end Sunday night.

Dig a hole, throw the season in and shovel some dirt over it. Then start looking to next year with the belief that things will be better. Of course, the past three months — three of the darkest in franchise history — can’t exactly leave Canucks fans with confidence that things will improve rapidly. Still, there are reasons to look forward to next season and here are 10 things I’m hoping to see from the 2017-18 Vancouver Canucks:

MORE OF BROCK BOESER: In two short weeks in the NHL, the 2015 first-rounder has led the Canucks in goals and done exactly what’s been asked of him. Few on this year’s team can say that. He’s looked dangerous, he doesn’t look the least bit fazed by the stage and he represents hope for a few more goals from this offensively-starved bunch next season.

LOUI ERIKSSON 2.0: Call me crazy, but I want to see more of Eriksson — and from Eriksson — because I think there is more there than he showed in his first season. Find him the right linemates, put him in front of the net on the power play, and lower expectations from 30 goals to 20 and there’s reason to believe he can help this team in a number of areas.

JAKE VIRTANEN: After a year of the tough-love treatment in Utica, let’s see what the Abbotsford native learned in the minors. He may not be ready for a starring role, but don’t tell me he can’t produce at the same rate as just about anyone who occupied a bottom six role on this year’s team. Plus, on a team so easy to play against, Virtanen represents a physical presence so sorely lacking here.

JORDAN SUBBAN: Like Virtanen, Subban has seemed like a forgotten man buried in the minors. But it’s time to give him a look. It probably won’t happen out of camp, but at some point there has to be a way to find a spot for the third-highest goal-scoring defenceman in the AHL. The Canucks gave Matt Bartkowski all of last season and pinned their hopes for half of this season on Philip Larsen. But somehow there hasn’t been room for a guy with Subban’s skill set? Nonsense. Bring him up and give him a chance.

Jordan Subban is third in AHL defenceman scoring. If there was a need that ever needed filling, it’s the Vancouver Canucks’ blueline scoring.

THE 2017 FIRST ROUND PICK: I don’t know who he is, but I already want to see him in a Canucks uniform. After Bo Horvat, it’s wide open on the depth chart for scoring centres. It seems almost certain the Canucks will use their pick on one of the highly-skilled middlemen available at the top of the draft. Plug him in and let him play. It’s a young man’s league and the team can’t be afraid to run with a prize prospect.

SPLITTING THE SEDINS: Whether on the power play or at even strength – or both – mix things up a little. It can’t hurt. It was difficult to watch their defensive struggles on too many nights. The Canucks can’t allow that to happen again next season. With their glory days behind them, treat Daniel and Henrik as individuals with play-making abilities rather than a single entity. Perhaps taking them out of their comfort zones might actually benefit them and the team in what is likely their final NHL season.

A RUN OF GAMES FOR JACOB MARKSTROM: The Canucks claim they know what they’ve got in Markstrom. I don’t know how that’s possible given the way he was handled this season. Whether Ryan Miller returns or the Canucks find a new creasemate for the 27-year-old Swede, Markstrom has to play. Entering the first year of a three-year/$11-million contract extension, he must be given a string of starts to prove himself rather than sitting at the end of the bench for weeks at a time.

ALEX EDLER WAIVING HIS NO-TRADE CLAUSE: The time has come. He needs a change of scenery, and the Canucks have to continue to move on from the past. Edler has given the Canucks years of loyal service, but he looks disinterested and dispirited too often now, and a new hockey home and a more successful environment elsewhere might help him rekindle his passion for the game.

A COMPLETE OVERHAUL OF THE SPECIAL TEAMS: The 29th-ranked power play and 28th-ranked penalty kill played a huge role in dragging this Canucks season into the ditch. Some of that is on the personnel, but much is on the systems used and a reluctance to budge when it became apparent special teams were failing the hockey club. Cast a wide net in the hockey world, find innovative thinkers with proven track records in this regard, bring them in and let them disrupt the status quo because quite clearly it’s not working.

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